winter twilight
by swoodilypooper
Summary: "If you're forgetting how to be human, I'll teach you how. We'll make gingerbread houses; we'll sing, we'll dance, we'll laugh, we'll cry, and through it all, we might learn something valuable. Isn't that what it means to be human?" she challenged. In which Percy remembers his humanity on Christmas Eve in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Monsters in the Closet Forum Secret Santa


**Prompts: **Double-Chocolate Frappe, "I Just Haven't Met You Yet" - Michael Buble, "Beautiful Mess" - Jason Mraz, Making a Gingerbread House

**For: **Can'tBeatCandor

**Note: **So I didn't really fulfill the Michael Buble part of the prompt, so I apologize. I started to philosophize because that's what I do, so sorry for that, haha. I'm pretty sure zombie apocalypse isn't the first thing you think about when you think of Christmas, but I sort of just went with my sinister plot bunny. There also isn't as strong a romantic tone to this story as there could have been, but I suck at writing romance so I just stuck to my guns. I hope you enjoy the story!

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**winter twilight**

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_Life begins on the other side of despair - Jean-Paul Sartre_

With trembling fingers, he pressed a soiled, wet rag against the gaping wound on the side of her body. Blood was seeping through the fabric and staining his hands the color of wine. Her skin was paler than he'd ever seen it, and not for the first time, he wished that he knew something about medicine or at least enough to save her. He lessened the pressure of his hand when he heard her hiss and murmured an apology in response.

His hand combed away the copper colored hair plastered to her sweaty forehead, and she gave him a small smile. It was enough to make him feel warm for the first time in a long time. "You-you're going to make it," he stammered.

She nodded weakly in response. "I let the damned Hollow hit with me his hand. If I was only a little bit more careful and listened to you, then we wouldn't be in this mess."

"You're not a mess," Percy said reflexively.

Her smiled widened. "I'm a beautiful mess," she said thoughtfully.

Percy pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead despite himself. He froze when he realized what he was doing, and he withdrew like he'd burned himself, spewing excuses left and right like verbal diarrhea. Calypso for her part flushed brightly _obviously_ because of fever and definitely _not_ because he'd just kissed her because _that_ would be weird. Percy excused himself to escape the thick atmosphere that had settled in due to his actions so that he could give her some rest.

It became clear that she was going to be fine, so Calypso began to move around the next day despite his protests otherwise. They wandered out of the House together to salvage more supplies. Percy was on edge because of the mishap yesterday, so he kept his hand tight around the pommel of his sword. The Hallows had a tendency to strike the second you let your guard down, so he wasn't taking any chances. Calypso hobbled behind him, her gait severely affected by her wound.

The snow outside seemed at odds with the reality of the world they found themselves in. At face value, a look out the window would show you a world of fluffy white snow, laid across the ground like a coating of marzipan. It would deceive you into thinking that things were alright with the world. It almost made you forget about the Hollows.

No one knew where it started, but the Virus started to reanimate corpses that hungered for the taste of human flesh. They attacked in numbers, quick and brutal, with infectious bites that transmitted the illness to the victims that weren't devoured outright. Governments fell in a matter of days. Militaries were laid to waste despite technological supremacy. Humans began to die out as a species. Percy and Calypso had survived only because they were childhood friends who worked efficiently and resourcefully. That didn't change the fact that they had seen their families turn Hollow or that life had become a matter of survival. At this point, all they had was each other.

"Percy," Calypso whispered, nudging him.

"Hmm?"

Calypso nodded towards a vacant store. "Let's get some food," she said.

They both walked into the store and searched for traces of Hollows to avoid an ambush. When they confirmed the coast was clear, they grabbed as many supplies as they could to keep themselves light enough to run unhindered. Percy grabbed fruits and vegetables while Calypso wandered idly through the isles, looking for treats for the two of them. Percy walked to the front of the store, his knapsack filled, when Calypso came back holding a hefty box in her hands.

"No way. You can't run with that," Percy said, shaking his head.

Calypso looked down at the gingerbread house kit and then back up to him. "I want it," she said, her tone making it clear that this wasn't up for debate.

Percy sighed. "Fine, just let me know if it strains your wound too much."

With that, the pair made their way back to the safe house. Calypso kicked a soiled, empty Starbucks cup out of the way. "Do you remember Starbucks, Percy?" she asked, laughing to herself.

"Yeah. Those were the days," he said wistfully.

Calypso grinned. "What was it that you always used to get? Double chocolate frappe with a mountain of whipped cream?" she teased.

"It wasn't a mountain," Percy huffed, to which she laughed in response. Secretly, he was little happy for some reason that she had memorized his coffee order even though she could have forgotten after all the world got dragged to hell. It made things feel normal almost.

Calypso was the first to still when they heard the sound of footsteps behind them. Percy turned imperceptibly until he saw the Hallow out the corner of his eye. He shot Calypso a look and they began to run while it let out a shriek that tore through the air. Hollows began to pour out of the houses, and the pair struggled to navigate around them. Percy noticed that Calypso seemed to lag behind because of her wound and the heavy gingerbread kit.

"Drop the box! You're not going to make it!" Percy shouted.

"No way!" Calypso screamed.

With a groan of exasperation, he ran to her and stole the box from her hands, allowing her to run faster. They lost the Hollows by weaving through a set of narrow streets. When they made it into the house, they collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily. When she recovered, Calypso stole the box back and headed to the kitchen. Percy stood up and decided to sort the supplies safely and secure the house. The light was already starting to dwindle outside, which meant that there was a greater risk that they'd find the Hollows out and about. He bolted the doors down and barricaded the windows to keep the light inside the house from shining out. Calypso let out a scream from inside the kitchen, so Percy raced over, thinking something was wrong.

"What? What happened?" he asked.

She looked up, annoyed. "My ginger bread house keeps falling."

Percy resisted the urge to strangle a water buffalo. Instead, he settled for dragging his hand over his face and groaning in exasperation. "Don't do that to me," he warned.

Calypso frowned. "Sorry," she muttered.

"Why is this so important to you?" he asked, baffled. It was beyond him why she was so hell-bent on this stupid gingerbread house when there were undead monsters outside that had nearly killed her. He couldn't understand why she was willing to put herself in danger for it.

A powerful emotion surged into her eyes. "Because tomorrow is Christmas," she said simply.

Percy blinked. He knew it was December, but dates ceased to have meaning after the outset of the Virus. He had completely forgotten that Christmas was coming up. Suddenly, he felt sick, like he had lost all of his humanity. It sounded melodramatic, but celebration at its core was ineffably _human_. The idea that a random date was picked to be honored and celebrated over all others for the sake of spreading camaraderie, kindness, and happiness was unique.

"Do you want to help me?" Calypso asked.

He nodded weakly and sat down beside her and accepted a pre-made door. Together they built. They built something new in the ashes of a world that had been destroyed in every sense of they word. They built because they were human, and it did not matter that it was just a gingerbread house because creating worlds required practice. Percy realized, in that moment, that he was happy because if he had to create a world, he was happy knowing that he wouldn't be alone, that Calypso would be there with him.

"You forgot didn't you?" she asked.

Percy looked up from his work. "Yeah, I did," he sighed.

Calypso smiled softly. "Good thing I'm here to remind you then," she said.

"I feel like sometimes I'm forgetting how to be human, that we've just been trying to survive for so long that I've turned Hollow already," Percy whispered.

"Well then change back," Calypso said softly.

Percy shook his head. "It's not that easy-"

"I didn't say it would be easy. We're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, Percy. It's definitely not going to be easy. But you have me, and I have you, so I think that maybe we might somehow make it out okay," she said.

Percy kept his eyes on her. "If you're forgetting how to be human, I'll teach you how. We'll make gingerbread houses; we'll sing, we'll dance, we'll laugh, we'll cry, and through it all, we might learn something valuable. Isn't that what it means to be human?" she challenged.

He smiled despite himself. "Three deep five me," he joked.

She hit his shoulder playfully. "Jerk," she said.

They finished the house and ate dinner in a quiet companionship. Despite his caution to be safe, Percy felt an overwhelming need to do something daring, to _live,_ well up inside him. He led Calypso outside and together, they flopped onto the fresh snow and looked up into the sky. Feathery snowflakes seemed to waltz lazily in the air as they floated. Calypso made a snow angel beside him, and he resisted the urge to lean over and kiss her. She was just too adorable.

"We're going to be alright, aren't we?" he asked.

Calypso turned her head to the side to look at him. "I have a feeling that we'll work it out," she smiled.

And in the snowy, purple twilight, Percy felt like maybe, just maybe things would be fine.

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**A/N: Merry Christmas! I hope all of you are enjoying the holidays even if you don't celebrate Christmas in particular. So this story was going to be this really fluffy thing, and then this idea about zombie apocalypse just hit me upside the head and I decided to run with it. General Note for my readers: I am having a hard time finding my "voice" again. My voice is like my writing style, and I've sort of lost it now that I'm not writing uber depressing stuff anymore. It's really hard for me to write like myself right now, so I apologize for the really long waits between updates. You guys rock!**

**YOU SHOULD ALL CHECK OUT MY TUMBLR PAGE. THE LINK IS ON MY PROFILE. YOU GET ACCESS TO EXCLUSIVE FANFIC CONTENT AND ORIGINAL CONTENT. I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER AND EVER IF YOU FOLLOW ME. **

**I'll say it outright: this is social commentary. I used the word "Hollow" over "Undead" or "Infected" for a reason - it's because I feel like we as a species are sort of losing our humanity by becoming apathetic/desensitized to everything around us. Holidays in particular seem to be this orgy of materialism nowadays, and they don't really have any of their usual meaning, not to sound like those cheesy Christmas movies. I think the idea of celebrating in general is fascinating because it's so arbitrary, but like I wrote, so _human_. I don't want to completely spoon feed this to you because Percy and Calypso have some pretty clear dialogue that fits this whole social commentary thing, and its not that hard to figure it out if you read it. **

**As always, I hope you enjoyed the story, and please: Follow, Favorite, and Review! **


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